Engineers urged to register with Board

The Registrar of the Engineer Registration Board (ERB) Dennis Olaotse has urged engineers to register with the Board. Speaking during a press conference by ERB to launch Engineers Registration Regulations 2016, Olaotse said statistics shows that out of an estimated 5500 engineers in Botswana, the Board registered close to 41 percent as at 12 September 2016.

The engineers are registered in various categories and disciplines. Most are Batswana and only a few percentage share international engineers. However, the board does not take any disciplinary action against unregistered engineers. Olaotse said the regulations are to facilitate for the operationalisation of the Engineers Registration Act and provide guidelines of how best to regulate the activities and conduct of engineering profession. The profession has been faced with a lot of challenges including fraudsters, forging of ERB certificates to secure employment and people using ERB certificate for procurement of works. The regulation is expected to address all these issues.

The Regulations provide for the categories of registration and its procedures, issuance of practicing certificates and most mentions the importance of compliance by engineering professionals to the set Code of Conduct and Ethics. “Failure to comply with the code may result in the Board instituting an inquiry into the conduct of the engineering professional which may lead to an investigation and disciplinary action taken against such a professional.”

Olaotse said there are other initiatives that go hand in hand with implementation of the regulations, which are the implementation of the Continued Professional Development (CPD) Policy and the Code of Professional Conduct and Ethics. The objective of the CPD Policy is to assist engineering professionals to systematically acquire knowledge and skills and develop personal qualities in order to maintain and enhance their professional competence.